A Railway Simulator?

I grew up in a family which had a close association with the railways. Not only did my Dad have an interest in them, but close friends of the family did too...and that (not surprisingly, I suppose) rubbed off on me too. I've since developed that into a fascination with engineering (guess what I do for a living!), science and physics, but the first time I encountered that sort of human creativity in the "real" world was through the railways in my home town. It's not something you ever forget, really.

When I was little my Dad built model railways (nothing unusual there, really!) and at the time I always wondered what it would be like to build a model of the old station as it was during (say) the 1960s, rather than in the dilapidated state it was in by then. It is a thought that has (looking back) stayed at the back of my mind ever since, Needless to say, with pressures of work, family money and space that never happened, and now it's even more unlikely.

However, there is now another way to do it, and one which I must admit I stumbled on my accident: an interactive computer simulation. It's an interesting idea, but as I've no 3D or graphic skills whatsoever it is not something I thought I was at all likely to succeed at. However, it turns out I was wrong, and it's a lot easier than I thought...

There are several railway simulators on the market including Microsoft Train Simulator (MSTS), Trainz, BVE and Rail Simulator. Of those Rail Simulator has a reputation for being the best for "in cab" realism, but Trainz as being the easiest for building routes. To my eyes, it seems "good enough" - and that's generally what matters.

Trainz has a couple of other advantages, too. For one, it has a very active user community (most rolling stock is available for free download, which isn't the case for Rail Simulator) - including the Class 31 and 37 locomotives I remember most from my childhood. Most of the models also seem to be of very high quality. Secondly, you can build rather long routes in it, with prototypical distances between stations. In fact, one of the most recent Trainz Editions - Trainz Classics 3 - features the entire Settle-Carlisle route, including a highly detailed model of Carlisle Citadel - itself no mean feat:


After spending a fair bit of time reading reviews and exploring the forums I took the plunge and bought a copy at the end of last year. TC3 is the platform I've settled on to try this experiment, so let's see how far we get, shall we...?

No Sleep 'Til Spennymoor

My hometown (Bishop Auckland, in Co Durham) is an interesting place, and one of which I have many fond memories.

Among them was exploring the remains of the old railway station in the town centre, which in its heyday was a busy triangular station at the junction of no fewer than seven lines - most of which were originally built to serve the rather heavy coal traffic in the area.

Unfortunately, by the time that I was old enough to start exploring on my own in 1980 or so all bar the Bishop Auckland-Darlington and Bishop Auckland-Eastgate lines (the latter now the Weardale Railway) had been closed. In fact, the Weardale line only survived because of traffic from the cement works at Eastgate, and had it not done so I suspect the passenger service to Bishop Auckland would have been withdrawn as well.

By the beginning of the 80s the station was pretty dilapidated, and virtually nothing remained of the line to Durham (which closed to passenger traffic in 1964) through which mainline services used to be regularly diverted when engineering works were in progress on the East Coast Main Line. Nevertheless, I have fond memories of wandering around exploring what was left and taking pictures (which sadly I've managed to lose over the years. Oh well).

The following (July 1984) account from “Geoff’s Railway Pages” sums it up rather well:

I was not prepared for the shock I was to receive at Bishop Auckland. This was once a large, rambling triangular station with lots of glass and ironwork, a real railway station. Alas, the whole of the inner triangle buildings have been demolished, and the triangular platform was covered in willowherb and brambles. The train stopped at the only platform remaining in use, the former north – to - east platform for southbound Durham trains, which last ran in 1964. The guard on the DMU recalled seeing diverted ECML trains running through these platforms over 20 years ago. This was the only side of the triangle with separate platforms - the other two faces of the triangle were two-way - once a fairly common arrangement, even on double track line, in this part of the North East.

Bishop Auckland was quite a busy spot once, with lines also running to Barnard Castle, over the moors to Consett, to Ferryhill, and to Wearhead. The latter still remains in use, freight only, to the cement works at Eastgate.

The station was also the starting point for my travels to Darlington and beyond - I always remember the sense of adventure I felt sitting at the front of the circa-1950s Metro-Cammell DMU watching the driver as he guided the train onwards (those trains have a glass window at the front of the passenger compartment, so you can see into the cab and beyond). I swear I could almost drive one of those things even now from what I learned watching the driver through the window during those trips...

The fact that I could see out of the front of the train also meant that going through Shildon Tunnel was particularly memorable (and a little scary, at first!).

At the time I didn't have any idea how extensive the rail network in the area was (I knew about the lines to Eastgage and Durham, but not about the Spennymoor and Barnard Castle lines). As people do, I forgot about many childhood experiences as life drew me onwards. More recently, I've rediscovered an interest in some of the things I've since cast away; this blog is part of my attempt to revisit some of those experiences, and see where it leads me.

Footnote: There is some quite detailed and very interesting information on the old station at Bishop Auckland on the "Disused Stations" site:

• Durham Platforms


• Crook & Wearhead Platform